T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Love Athirst
By Ruth Bassett Eddy(From The Pagan, 1920) LAST night, do you recall? You turned your head, | |
And laid your lips to mine, as we lay there | |
Under the stars. The sweetness of the night | |
Somehow became a part of that long kiss, | |
Until, grown weak with passion, | 5 |
You fell asleep. But I could not find rest. | |
The lips that clung to mine no longer gave | |
A passionate response. They were | |
Soft and warm and still against my own,— | |
The lips of a contented, sleepy child. | 10 |
And oh, I was ashamed—ashamed to feel | |
Desire to take from your unconscious lips | |
The drink love had to offer you and me. | |
I would have been content to let the hours | |
Go on toward endless time, if I could lie | 15 |
Against your body’s close and yielding warmth; | |
Heart to heart and breath to breath, | |
My mouth against your own until I knew | |
The sweet exhaustion that had given you sleep. | |